InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Because of Tomomi ❯ The Night ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or the like. This story is for my own entertainment. (Well. You can be entertained by it too, I suppose.)

 

A/N: There was a point when Kitsune and I were obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh!. Since she and I were inseparable, we determined she was the “hikari” of the relationship, and I was the “yami.” See… Naraku wasn't really evil. …I, however, am.

 

 

Ojiki: Uncle (formal, rarely used)

 

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Because of Tomomi

Chapter Seven

The Night

~==*==~

 

Kagome sat perfectly still, her spine ramrod straight. Her two companion captives cried behind her, clinging to each other. Miwa and Rika were beside themselves with fear. Minutes after being purified, they'd witnessed a dark figure crouch over their young niece, then lost consciousness and woke up in the presence of a youkai tearing at their miko's clothes. It didn't matter that Kagome had fought him off and sent him flying across the yawning cavern. It didn't matter that the creature had crashed against Kagome's barriers and been momentarily stunned. It didn't matter that it'd been hours and the youkai hadn't touched them. The damage was done. They didn't know if the youkai had eaten Ao or let her live. The youkai managed to lay a hand on a miko, intent on ravaging her. Kagome made herself strong for the women, as she was the only thing between them and an angry youkai that would surely ravage them, but not before they had to watch him defile Kagome.

 

Of all the things for Kagome to be thinking about the attempted rape that left her clothes hanging, torn, off one shoulder and leaving her front mostly exposed, she figured it was her fault. Her fumbling attempt to seduce InuYasha, even as out of her head as she'd been, had obviously made her a beacon for sexual predators. Did something in her scent scream, “here, look at me, I'm trying to be sexually active!”? Kagome knew it was an irrational and incorrect thought, but she couldn't shake it off. The delusion clung to her like the scent of smoke.

 

From behind her, the two women couldn't see the tears that fell silently down Kagome's face. The youkai could see, though, and he loved it. This confusing, evil thing with both fur and feathers saw her tears and grinned, his lips stretching over his delicate fangs. What was he? His entire body was covered with short black fur that swallowed any shadows. The hair on his head flowed down his back, starting out blue, ending green, and shimmering, but floating. Kagome was sure his hair was made of feathers. The youkai wore hakama that tied at the ankles like InuYasha's, but the slits on the side weren't as long, and the sash he tied them with was longer, made of black silk that seemed like ink against the white hakama. He was bare from the waist up, almost overly muscular. His eyes glittered like red jewels, seemingly lit from within.

 

Seeing her tears, the youkai made himself comfortable by the small fire that burned outside Kagome's barrier and watched. Evident by the smirk on his face, he seemed confident that Kagome would weaken, and he would have her. But even through her tears, Kagome was strong. InuYasha would come for her. He always did, whether or not she deserved rescuing. All she had to do was last until daybreak, when InuYasha recovered from the effects of the new moon. But with the cave being so long and twisted, there was no glimpse of outside to see how close dawn was. Kagome steeled herself, fighting against her emotions.

 

It was going to be a long night.

 

~*~

 

The village was quiet, several hours past nightfall. Ryouta trudged wearily through the village, step for step with his uncle, Sugoroku. Sugoroku, starting to stoop with age, carried his fishing net over one shoulder. Ryouta took the heavier burden of the large basket of fish, which he strapped over his shoulders.

 

“Ryouta,” his uncle hesitated, a thoughtful look on his face.

 

“Ojiki?” Ryouta frowned.

 

“Your sister,” Sugoroku continued, “how is she doing?”

 

The young man nearly bit his tongue. Focusing on the ground he passed over, his thoughts raced. What was he supposed to say? It wasn't like the girl was around very much, always spending her time with InuYasha and Kagome. It wasn't like he'd ever really spent much time with his sister, but now that he had the opportunity, he thought he'd be able to get to know her better. It was made painfully obvious to him that she wouldn't cooperate, as she'd run off the very day they'd moved to the village. Three days later, it was InuYasha that threw Ryouta into the crowd Tomomi had latched onto. Ryouta thought it would be a one-time thing, her bothering the mikos and hanyou, but two weeks later, she was still seeing them on a nearly daily basis. They'd seen more of his estranged sister than he had, and they shared the same roof.

 

Sugoroku sighed when Ryouta didn't answer. “I see,” he said. Ryouta flinched inside, feeling judgment passed on him as his sister's guardian. “I'm sorry,” he continued. “Your aunt and I haven't been of too much help since you two came here.”

 

“N-no,” Ryouta sputtered, tripping over his words. “It's thanks to you that we are able to live as well as we do, that we live at all!” He was silenced when his uncle waved a hand and smiled.

 

“And yet I'm the one abusing your generosity, having you repair my nets, helping me fish,” he gestured to the deep basket on Ryouta's back. “Making you do all the heavy lifting.” Ryouta flushed and opened his mouth to protest, but Sugoroku continued without giving him a chance. “I've left you nearly no time to concentrate on what you came here for; Tomomi.”

 

Ryouta's tongue felt like sand in his mouth. His uncle granted him a respite from fishing so he could spend time with Tomomi, but the young man feared it wouldn't do any good. It took two to communicate, and while Ryouta was hardly home any more, neither was Tomomi. The rest of the conversation floated above Ryouta's head as they made their way home. Ryouta carried the fish into his uncle's house, where the aging man and his wife would preserve the fish in several ways, distribute some to the village, and store a good portion away to take to market in one of the cities.

 

After bidding his family goodnight, Ryouta continued through the village to the second hut his uncle owned. It reeked of fish, as Sugoroku has previously used it for gutting and preserving his fish, but Ryouta never complained, especially since his uncle had taken the tools into his own home. Sometimes he caught Tomomi wrinkling her nose where the scent lingered strongest, but other than that he hadn't heard a thing from her.

 

When he got home, he found it empty. He knew he shouldn't be surprised, but he was somehow hurt that she was missing again. Without lingering, he turned away from the little house and started for Kaede's. It wasn't a long walk, and he was there before he knew it. He was either tired enough to forget the walk, or so zoned out that he hadn't even noticed it.

 

“Pardon me,” he said, peeking inside the miko's hut. The only familiar person in the building was Shippo, who he'd seen with Kagome and InuYasha on a number of occasions, but he was asleep. A man only a few years older than Ryouta paced furiously just inside the doorway. He'd nearly run Ryouta over as the young man walked through the door. Before Ryouta could apologize, the man turned around again and continued his pacing. He nearly slapped Ryouta in the face with his long hair, but he flinched away from the black mass.

 

“Ryouta-san,” a young woman greeted him. She sat next to the fire, absently feeding it. Her hair was pulled up into a handkerchief and tied behind where her bangs started to fall to her eyebrows. She left the short locks of hair in front of her ears loose of the bandana as well. Her eyes were lined with red-pink pigment, but there were dark circles forming under her eyes that marked her exhaustion and marred her beauty. Ryouta hesitated at being addressed by the woman he didn't recognize, but he bowed politely. She noticed his confusion, and like his uncle, she spoke before he could. “I'm Sango,” she said, standing and bowing to match him. “I'm a friend of Kagome and InuYasha. Please.” She gestured for him to sit by the fire with her. In his confusion, he took a step to do just that, but then hesitated.

 

“My sister,” he said. “She's usually around InuYasha-sama, and I was wondering…”

 

Sango nodded. “She's…” she hesitated, but glanced to one of the sleeping pallets by the far wall. There were blankets piled enough that from the doorway he couldn't have seen the sleeper's face or head, but from next to the fire pit, he could see blond hair.

 

“Tomo-chan,” he breathed. He went to kneel next to her, but he was struck by a lash of anger upon seeing her face. Her lip was split and scabbed, and her eye was in the beginning stages of turning black. She was curled up on her side, and one hand peeked out from under the blankets, wrapped in bandages that smelled faintly of herbs. He flicked an angry glance to Sango. “What happened to her?” he demanded, his voice uncharacteristically gruff.

 

“Ryou-nii?” Ryouta looked at the girl sitting up, pushing the blankets away. Ryouta could have screamed, seeing that the bandages went past her elbows and the similar bandages that covered one calf and the entire other leg halfway up her thigh. One knee was swollen. He'd never felt such a horrible wash of emotion. Livid, he glared at Sango again, who looked guilty and glanced to the man in red that'd been just as angry as Ryouta the entire time.

 

“Bullies,” the pacing man growled. Ryouta frowned. The man's voice was barely deeper than InuYasha's.

 

“What?”

 

“That's what happened,” the man said, lips curling back from his teeth in a snarl. He never stopped moving.

 

“Inu-inu saved me,” Tomomi grinned at her brother. It broke Ryouta's heart. His sister had such an odd faith in the hanyou, yet it was so iron-clad, and Ryouta couldn't help but be envious. How had InuYasha managed to earn so much of his odd sister's respect? How could Ryouta do it?

 

“Where is InuYasha?” Ryouta asked Sango. The woman hesitated to open her mouth, and in that second the other man answered for her.

 

“He'll be back by morning,” he said. Tomomi giggled, earning her a glare from the man. Tomomi fell silent, but there was still laughter in her eyes, and she pressed her fingertips to her lips as if to keep it in.

 

“What is he doing staying out all night for?” Ryouta demanded. It seemed to make the man in red angrier. “And where is Kagome-sama?” No one answered. Tomomi bit her lip, stretching the scab almost until it ripped open. “With Kaede gone, is Kagome so quick to shirk her duties as a miko? Does she think it's okay to go gallivanting off with InuYasha for a night of--“

 

“Quiet!” the man raged at Ryouta. “You don't know anything about what's going on!” The man's eyes were clear lavender in his fury, angry tears threatening to spill onto his cheeks.

 

“Of course not,” Ryouta sneered. He took Tomomi's hand and helped her to her feet. “Come on, Tomo-chan. We're going home.”

 

“No!” Tomomi cried, dismayed, but Ryouta had led her nearly to the door. She desperately grabbed the wide sleeve of the man that shook with anger. “Don't make me leave,” she begged the man. “Inu.”

 

As angry as the man's glare had been when his sister giggled, his stare now was nearly murderous. Tomomi was almost in tears.

 

Ryouta felt like he'd been doused with a bucket of ice water. This man was InuYasha? This human? His head spun, and he fell roughly onto the raised wooden floor, his feet in the uncovered entryway.

 

“InuYasha?” Ryouta repeated, bewildered. The man in red -- which Ryouta had foolishly thought was what every man who assisted a miko wore -- turned around and flung himself on the ground, sitting against the wall and propping his sword against his shoulder. He closed his eyes as if he was trying to ignore them all.

 

“Ryou-nii,” Tomomi said, sitting on her knees in front of him. She put her hands on his legs, willing him to understand. “Miko-chan is taken. Inu-inu needs to be youkai to help her. Inu-inu turns youkai at morning.”

 

`Dear gods,' Ryouta moaned to himself. `And I just insulted him and Kagome to his face.' He felt like he was going to be sick, he felt so ashamed.

 

“I'm sorry,” Ryouta babbled. He put his hand on his forehead. He felt pale. Did he look pale? Was this what it felt like to feel faint? “Gods, I… I was angry and… I didn't know. I didn't… I'm sorry.”

 

“Shut up,” InuYasha huffed.

 

~*~

 

“Shigeru-sama,” Tatsuya said, calling the young lord's attention. “The horses are starting to get uneasy.”

 

“I know,” Mitsuo said through gritted teeth. “Still, we press on. Kagome-sama needs us.”

 

Tatsuya cursed under her breath, urging her mare along. She understood that her master cared for the miko, but Tatsuya, who had never met the woman in person, was beginning to dislike her intensely. Not only was the woman stringing her master along, but she associated with youkai, and worse. She seemed especially close to a hanyou. What kind of behavior was that for any woman, let alone a miko?

 

She pushed the thoughts away. Her lord had given her an order to find the miko, and she intended to do just that.

 

Suddenly Lord Shigeru reared his horse. Tatsuya followed suit, and the action quickly spread through the ranks behind them. Before she could open her mouth to ask what the problem was, she saw the answer to her question. On the path before them was a creature that looked like a rabbit, except it had four large feathers three times the length of the rabbit on its head instead of ears, and its fluffy tail was about as big as its body. It stood on two legs, which were certainly not the legs of a rabbit. They looked vaguely human, except they were too straight, with no muscular definition. Was it a trick of its fur? It stared through all of them with beady red eyes, then lowered to all fours. Its fur bristled, the feathers on its head standing straight up.

 

It let out the most ear-piercing, terrifying cross between a scream and a screech that Tatsuya had ever heard. In fear, the horses reared. The more inexperienced riders fell, and the freed horses turned to run away. Tatsuya's mare danced in place, turning but not daring to take a step in any direction. In an instant there were two more of the almost-rabbits next to the first one. These ones were bigger. Tatsuya had never seen such huge rabbits. She heard rustling in the bushes all around Lord Shigeru's force, and knew they were surrounded.

 

“Archers!” Shigeru raised an arm, ready to signal the shot. The forest was briefly filled with the slight sound of arrows knocking against bows. Tatsuya hoped they were aiming at the ones surrounding their unit, too. In the brief moment the sound started, the rabbits grinned, their mouths splitting their faces in half and revealing red mouths and sharp white teeth with disproportionately long teeth. They smiled their horrid smiles, and Shigeru forgot to signal. Arrows went flying at the same instant all the rabbit youkai leapt.

 

~*~

 

Miwa and Rika sobbed with renewed anxiety, clutching at Kagome's sleeves as if they were little girls. Kagome wanted to tell them to shut up, but she feared it would not only break her concentration on the barrier, but also serve to further destroy the women's morale. The youkai was practically salivating, he was enjoying their fear so much. The smirk on his face revealed gleaming white teeth. He licked his lips with an impossibly red tongue and finished undoing the knots in the silk cord that held up his hakama. The women behind Kagome had already hidden their faces behind her back. Kagome's eyes were huge with horror. The youkai laughed, throwing his head back while he took his erection in one hand. Kagome shut her eyes, shame and anger turning her cheeks pink and hot.

 

The youkai groaned in pleasure. Kagome felt like she was going to be sick. It wasn't long before she could hear the steady rhythm of the youkai's hand on his own body, and the creatures was gasping as he loomed as close to her barrier as he dared. She could feel his eyes on her, devouring her. Bile rose in her throat, just thinking about it. How many ways was this youkai going to make her feel ashamed of herself? She did her best to ignore him.

 

“Miko,” he crooned in a deep, human voice, after several excruciating minutes. Despite herself, Kagome opened her eyes and glared at the youkai.

 

Laughing at her defiance, he ejaculated, his semen splattering onto Kagome's barrier.

 

`Enough,' Kagome thought. She was done being humiliated. Her barrier pulsed with power, expanding, sending the youkai flying again, this time with singed fur and a few bald spots. With the surge of power, the barrier was clean. The youkai sat up and cried out in disgust at finding his own fluids on his fur. His glare was murderous when he turned it on Kagome again, but she could only laugh. The youkai was so pitifully disgruntled and powerless.

 

“You,” he snarled, his voice sounding like the echo of nails on a chalk board, “I'll make you pay for this.” He stood and stalked out of the cave, completely naked, and Kagome felt her blood curdle. Something bad was going to happen, and she didn't know if she could stop it. Before she could even entertain the thought of escaping while the youkai was gone, several giant rabbits with feathers instead of ears came bounding into the cavern. There were too many for her to hope to get past, and from their entrance she already knew that they could outrun her. So much for that.

 

At least the women behind her were quiet now. They'd been quiet since Kagome laughed, except for the occasional sniffle. She briefly wondered if they'd caught the youkai in his moment of disgrace, and then assumed they had. At least now they knew that even if Kagome couldn't fight the creature off, she could protect the three of them.

 

Not for the first time that night, Kagome cursed and wished she had her bow.

 

~*~

 

Staggering to his feet, Mitsuo Shigeru surveyed the servants that had accompanied him on his search for the miko Kagome. “Report!” he demanded. His men found their footing amid the gore that carpeted the forest. They'd taken out no small number of the black creatures that'd attacked them. Mitsuo was still having trouble thinking of them as youkai, as they were like nothing he'd ever seen. The only thing that'd saved his men's lives was that they'd attacked the horses first. It shamed the man. His family business was breeding and training horses for nobles, and in his fevered urge to save the woman he wanted, he'd taken almost half of them on the chase. Each horse's death stung him, but he found some measure of reassurance by Aki's side. The giant horse was not without wounds, but he still carried himself as arrogantly as ever. For as much as the young Mitsuo had thought that arrogance amusing in a colt, he was realizing again and again that it was dangerous in a full grown stallion. At the same time, Mitsuo wouldn't have traded anything to be rid of Aki's attitude, as it'd saved several lives and livelihoods.

 

“Report!” he shouted again. “Tatsuya!” His men glanced around, looking for their horse master, but no one spoke. “Tatsuya!” Mitsuo shouted through gritted teeth, plunging into the carnage. He quickly threaded his way between fallen horses, looking either for Tatsuya's body among the dead, or the mare she'd ridden in the search.

 

“Mitsuo-sama!” a man shouted breathlessly. Mitsuo picked his way toward the man, standing just outside the ring of dead. He held the reigns of a weak and frightened horse with brown fur that became gradually blacker toward the hooves. Its black tail flicked with anxiety, and the mare's mane was missing a large lock of hair toward the back of its neck. Mitsuo took the horse's reigns, trying to calm the beast, and examined her mane. The cut was crooked, but purposeful. It was Tatsuya's signal not to follow.

 

“Where did you find her?” Mitsuo asked the frightened man. In the lord's shock, he couldn't recall the man's name. He couldn't think of very much at all. He still wasn't completely seeing the wounds all around him.

 

All the man could do was point a short distance into the forest. He started in the indicated direction, and only a few feet in, he fell to his knees, devastated by his failure.

 

Tatsuya's clothes were strewn around in shreds.

 

~*~

 

The relatively small youkai that guarded Kagome and the other two women stirred and looked toward the entryway of the cave. Their master strode in, carrying something over his shoulder. Kagome knew what it was, but her mind didn't want to connect the dots. The small youkai scattered to the shadows once more. The one in human form dropped his cargo unceremoniously to the stone floor. Kagome realized what was happening. The youkai had just thrown a woman to the ground in front of the barrier. She was bereft of nearly all clothing, and sported at least a dozen scratches and more than a few bruises. She was barely conscious.

 

Kagome was horrified. The woman had bangs just like Sango's, but her hair was significantly shorter. Her face would have been pretty, except for the scar that carved from the edge of one eyebrow to her chin, cutting through the corner of her mouth. The scar was old, but the large bruise on her face was not. Kagome presumed the youkai had hit her once to knock her out. The woman pushed herself onto her elbow and tried to shake off her daze, but the youkai grabbed her chin.

 

“You see that woman there? Your miko?” the youkai hissed, his voice the same screeching echo as before. He forced the woman to look at Kagome, who sat perhaps five feet away from her. The woman stared with confused eyes until the youkai made her look at him. Kagome realized with belated terror that the youkai was still naked. He flipped the woman onto her back and pinned her there.

 

There was fear instantly on the woman's face. Kagome wanted to look away, but she was somehow transfixed. She couldn't even close her eyes.

 

“She can stop this,” the youkai said. In the next second he'd raked his claws down the woman's front, cutting away the wrappings on her chest and mauling one breast, leaving her naked. She cried out in pain, but then she screamed in earnest when the youkai dug his claws into her hips and buried himself between her legs. She struggled and flailed, and when the youkai got tired of it, he pinned her down again. The woman cried and stopped struggling when it proved fruitless.

 

Instead, she stared at Kagome while the youkai thrust repeatedly into her, her eyes begging the question, “Why?”